Word Count Wednesday

Well, despite all my best intentions, my word count this week was dismal. I still haven't finished my work in progress, (but I thought of another chapter I could add) and I sort of started another writing project that I shouldn't have. But at least starting that project gave me some word count about 1500 words). And it's so new and bright and shiny it seems easier to draft that one than slog with the manuscript I've been working on for months.

Sad, but true.

I don't think I'm stuck in writers' block per se, but I think I am hoping that this new shiny project will translate into the motivation to finish the one I need to finish. Cross your fingers for me.

How did you do this week?

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LDS Writers Blogfest---A Time to Prepare

Being a wife, mother, and a writer has a lot of perks and a lot of struggles that come along with it. I worry that I'm not balancing my life well and one of those areas of my life will suffer for it because in each of these small little words comes so much responsibility:

Wife

Mother

Writer


Last October, Ian S. Arden gave a talk to the members of the LDS church in our General Conference. It was called A Time to Prepare and addressed some of the things I'd been worrying about. He said, "With the demands made of us, we must learn to prioritize our choices to match our goals or risk being exposed to the winds of procrastination and being blown from one time-wasting activity to another."

To me, that was such a powerful visual. Prioritizing important choices so we are not buffeted on the wind between time-wasting activities.

Every day I make hundreds of choices. Mundane ones that don't matter (like what I eat for lunch) and big ones that would seem small at first (what are my children doing while I write) but are actually large in the eternal scheme of things. I have to prioritize what's important, and as much as I love writing, my children will always come first. Sitting on the porch, listening to my teenage children talk about their day is a highlight rather than a hindrance. Even if I do have twenty more things on my to-do list. Sitting to play tea party with my little girl, even though I have a manuscript waiting to be finished will never be considered time-wasting for me because I want my daughter to grow up to remember that her mommy loved to play with her and cherished all the moments of her childhood. I want that for all my children.

Having said that, I also want my children to see that I have a talent that I'm trying to develop and that taking writing time for myself is still a priority. However, the computer is so convenient that sometimes I find myself looking at Facebook, playing Bejeweled Blitz, or looking at Google+ and Twitter. I have obligations as a writer to market my work and get my name out there, I feel sometimes that I need a break and justify playing Bejeweled Blitz, and of course I can always rationalize that I am researching ideas for my next book when I'm reading all the latest newspapers. But the reality is, those are my distractions. Those are my winds of procrastination.

Ian Arden went on to say, "I invite us to identify the time-wasting distractions in our lives that may need to be figuratively ground into dust. We will need to be wise in our judgment to ensure that the scales of time are correctly balanced to include the Lord, family, work, and wholesome recreational activities. As many have already discovered, there is an increase of happiness in life as we use our time to seek after those things which are “virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy.”

So, I've already taken the first step in identifying my time-wasting distractions. And frankly, I don't think they're all bad. Sometimes I may need a distraction and sometimes going to social media is part of my job. But the key is to correctly balance it all so I am not cheating the Lord, my family, or myself. When I'm giving my best to my family, I find that I'm a better writer. And when I'm writing, I find I'm a better wife and mother.

But how do we find the balance? Elder Arden tells us we must do two things. One, we must become master managers of our time. To me, this doesn't mean scheduling each day down to the minute, but it does include making sure time is allotted for all the important things in our life with a little left over for the inevitable time crashers---the things we can't plan for but always happen.

The second thing he said to do was to pray because, "when help is prayerfully and sincerely sought, our Heavenly Father will help us to give emphasis to that which deserves our time above something else."

To me, that was the greatest comfort of all to know that Heavenly Father will help me prioritize and that He knows what is most important at a given time in my life and all I have to do is pray---anytime and anywhere. Those words of comfort are what get me through the day sometimes when I question my choices or second-guess myself. Knowing that I'm doing the best I can and that my Father in Heaven knows that, too, gets me through some hard times and adds a little extra joy to the good times.

There are so many demands on our time these days, and with the advances in technology, including in the publishing world, I think those demands will only get louder. But I also know that as we prioritize our choices in developing ourselves as writers, parents, spouses, and children of God, we will be happier and blessed for our efforts in ways we might not be able to imagine now.

I am so grateful for my family, for my opportunities, and for the blessing I have of trying to do better today than I did yesterday. As Elder Arden said, "Time marches swiftly forward to the tick of the clock." As time slips away each day, I know we are all looking for balance in our lives and I truly believe that, as Elder Arden so eloquently said, seeking guidance through individual prayer and then making priorities are the scales that balance us in today's world.

If you would like to read the entire article of A Time to Prepare click here


**Here are some other writers who are taking part in the LDS Writers Blogfest today. You can check out what touched them about a particular Conference talk and maybe find a new blog or friend to follow.

Amanda Sowards
Angie Lofthouse
Ben Spendlove
Britanny Larsen
Cami Checketts
Charity Bradford
Danyelle Ferguson
Giselle Abreu
Julia Keanini
Kasey Tross
Kayeleen Hamblin
Kelly Bryson
Krista Van Dolzer
Laura Johnston
Melanie Standord
Rachelle Christensen
Rebecca Belliston
Sierra Gardner
Stephanie Worlton

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Book Review: Countdown to Love

I've been getting to bed quite late these days, so I was pretty happy when I was able to get into bed at 10:30 p.m. on Friday night. (Yeah, I know, I must be getting old to make that statement.) Anyway, I thought I'd read for fifteen minutes before I turned in and I had Countdown to Love by Julie Ford on my Kindle that I'd been meaning to start. So I picked it up.

That was my first mistake.

Holy cow. That book sucked me in so fast before I knew it it was 2:30 a.m. and I was finishing the last page. It was funny and heartwarming and fluffy and fiery. I loved it.

So, here's the premise: We are introduced to Kelly Grace, a country singer, and it's her wedding day. She's staring into the mirror and feeling in the pit of her stomach something is going to go wrong. Something does go horribly wrong and circumstances are such that she ends up on the reality TV show "Countdown to Love," similar to "The Bachelor."

I will admit to you that I watched the Bachelor reality show until they gave a second chance to that guy who didn't choose any girl the first time around (I stopped watching after that because I didn't think he deserved a second chance and I wasn't going to watch him again, besides which, the show was getting repetitive and dumb and over the top. But I digress.) So to have a book that was obviously a takeoff on that show, that had behind the scenes stuff that felt so real and was funny, combined with a guy, Dillon, who is actually likeable and complicated, well, that really drew me in. Plus, I loved Kelly's character because she was relatable and the scenes between her and the other "contestants" were laugh out loud funny and something I could totally imagine happening. Kelly's southern girl status as a person who tells it like it is, (a girl after my own heart) is the perfect opposite to Dillon, a New Yorker with a mysterious air about him. They were just the ingredients for a romance that honestly kept me up half the night just so I could see what happened.

The only thing I was disappointed in was that this book was screaming for an epilogue. One practically wrote itself as a juxtaposition to the original first scene in the book. Hence, I mentally wrote my own epilogue and without giving anything away, it was in Wyoming, it had wildflowers in it, and maybe a mirror with a whole different girl staring out of it. *le sigh*

If you are looking for a fun romantic read, this is definitely the book for you. Here's the back copy:

Kelly Grace Pickens is an excited bride - until she's abandoned at the altar. Desperate, she accepts an offer to appear on a reality TV show, Count Down to Love. Her country ways are a stark contrast to the mysterious bachelor from New York. Wading through hurt and betrayal both on and off screen, Kelly discovers that being true to yourself is essential to finding happiness and love.

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First Page Friday

We have gotten some wonderful submissions for First Page Friday. Today is no exception. I always learn so much from these critiques, it's like sitting in a little class each Friday. I hope they are beneficial for you as well. :)

(If you would like to have your first page critiqued by a national editor, please submit it to juliecoulterbellon@gmail.com with First Page Friday in the subject line. Submissions are critiqued on a first come first served basis.)

Thank you all for participating!


The Entry
WANNABE DEADBEAT
by Spencer Phelps

“Marion Tourism Board, this is Mike… No, this isn’t Tubby’s Pizza. Their number ends in a six, you dialed a seven… Yes, I’m sure… No, I won’t call them for you.” Mike hung up the phone.

The tourism office was housed in what used to be some sort of old-timey shop since it had a large display window in front. Downtown Marion, Ohio didn’t look very pretty having so many empty store and office spaces. Mike swore the downtown planning committee was so in love with their only claim to fame, ex-president Warren G. Harding, that they strove to keep downtown looking the same way it did when he was commander-in-chief. Mike’s place of employment was part of a worn, red-brick, downtown building built in the early 1900s and employed exactly three people: Mike, his good friend Ben, and their boss Gary. Posters of various, older slogans the office had come up with to spur tourism to Marion hung along the walls that were covered with that fake wood paneling that probably looked so trendy many decades ago. Mike sat at his oversized, metal desk that was built in the fifties to withstand a nuclear blast should the commies decide to attack.

Mike Lynch was a fairly good-looking young dude with short, black hair, neatly-cut sideburns, hazel eyes, and a light frame that he kept toned by doing a few sit-ups and crunches in the morning and staying away from the Mt. Dew and M&Ms most of the time. His clothes were usually just as trendy as his smart sideburns, although you’d never guess he shopped at the local Salvation Army. Mike’s philosophy on clothes was, “It doesn’t matter what you wear; it matters how you wear it.” So he was sporting his faded, straight-cut jeans, snazzy black, leather belt, and brown t-shirt with a worn “Seneca County Fair 1997” logo on the front at work today.

Ms. Shreditor's Comments

What I like most about this piece is its overall voice. It’s distinctly male, and there’s a delicious undercurrent of snark that flows through it from beginning to end. Mike appears to be a pretty standard protagonist—good-looking, riddled with life ennui, primed for some sort of life-altering experience.

The problem is that there’s no way of predicting what that experience will be from this first page. The story doesn’t get immediately under way after the initial scrap of dialogue. Instead, there’s a bit of an information dump about the tourism office and Marion, followed immediately by a paragraph-long description of Mike’s appearance and fashion sense. Don’t get me wrong: These are all important pieces of information, but clumping them together on the first page kills some of the momentum. Consider integrating this information more gradually. This will feel a lot more organic than paragraph-long laundry lists of traits.

The description of Mike in particular feels heavy-handed. He’s a good-looking young dude with great hair, a great body, healthy eating and frugal spending habits, and somewhat hipster fashion sensibilities. It all feels a bit airbrushed, the way someone who is infatuated with him might describe him and not how he would describe himself. Does he have any flaws, or is he a perfect ten on all fronts? Readers may have a problem connecting with a narrator who comes off as too perfect, particularly in a comedy.

Speaking of comedy, the strength of this piece is in its abiding humor. I particularly liked the quip about Marion looking as it did when Warren G. Harding was commander-in-chief and the description of Mike’s desk. There are some problems at the syntax level that a good copy edit would resolve (eliminating extraneous words and phrases, punctuation issues, etc.), but the overall writing quality is quite good.

So, to sum up, the key issue for me is a lack of direction on this first page. I don’t have a sense of where this story might be headed, and I haven’t yet connected with the narrator who will lead the way. We learn some superficial stats about Mike, but we don’t learn much of substance about him from this first page. Flesh him out a bit from the start. Hint at what might be at stake for him in this story. And, above all else, keep the quips coming!



I'd really like to thank Ms. Shreditor and Spencer for their time and effort. See you next week!

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Book Marketing--Whose Side Are You On?

There has been a lot of discussion on book marketing lately among authors. Mostly just what works and what doesn't.

The standard things that work are what you've all heard before:

1. Build your writing community profile by having a blog/website, Facebook fan page, Twitter accounts, Goodreads, Google+, Pinterest, or whatever venue you feel comfortable in.

2. Don't go overboard in self-promotion on those sites. No one wants to feel like they're being sold to all the time. Just be yourself and let people get to know you.

3. Make sure the book you are marketing is solid---well-plotted and well-edited.

Nothing new to see here, really. But then some authors were complaining about how hard it is to update their blogs, update Twitter, Google+, pinterest, Facebook, etc. etc., and still find time to write a book and wondered how much good any of that did anyway for their sales.

Here's my take on it (and I'm not saying I'm perfect by any stretch). As an author, I want to share my stories with as many people as would like to read them. In order to do that, I have to reach people that I don't come in contact with every day. The internet is a wonderful tool for that, but it can also be the biggest time-sucker around. It's all in how you balance it.

For example, I blog five days a week not because I'm addicted to blogging, but because I feel like I have writer/reader friends who come by every day to talk and I don't want to miss that visit. I also like the idea of helping each other through the ups and downs of writing because it can be a lonely business and having a little writer support is invaluable. Same thing with Twitter and Facebook. I spend a little bit of time each day with my "friends" and then I turn to my writing. Since my computer time is so limited with small children, I have to be time-conscious, but I think every writer should be time-conscious. Don't let the internet kill your writing time. Self-discipline is a must.

You might think it's easy to just throw out some self-promoting link each day (I see it all the time--Come check out my new book! Come like my Facebook page!) and there's never anything new. They may think they're promoting, but mostly what people are doing when they resort to that is losing potential customers and friends. If that's all you're about, why would I want more of it? Let me see more of the real you and maybe I'll want to get to know your books as well.

The one thing every author HAS to do, though, is spend the time to write something worth reading. It is ten times harder to market something that isn't ready for publication and needed a few more revisions. If your book is amazing, people will tell their friends. Word of mouth advertising is invaluable, but you have to put the time in. It's easy to think when you write The End that you're done, but revision and editing are your friends. Make sure your book is the best it can be so that you have a solid product to market in the first place.

I think book marketing is an individual thing since every author and book is in a different place (first-timers, seasoned authors, indie, traditional, etc.) and each author has a different comfort level with social media and internet marketing. For authors, though, these three basic marketing tools are the foundation of the "have to do" list. Yes, it can be time-consuming for an author, but in the long run, it is worth it, not only for book sales, but also for building a community that will last beyond your newest release.

As a reader, what do you like to see from your favorite authors? As an author, how do you handle marketing?

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Word Count Wednesday

Well, the strangest thing has happened to me this week. I'm at the end of my manuscript. I just need to revise the final scene, but every time I go to do it, I just can't seem to get it done. I've thought of dozens of scenarios and none of them seem right. So instead of writing, I've been futzing around on the internet and organizing my house again.

Yeah, I'm avoiding. But why?

For all you armchair shrinks out there, this is the first time I've never been able to finish a project like this. Usually I'm great at endings and I look forward to them, so this is weird. Any thoughts?

Of course as you may have guessed from my confession my word count was effectively zero. How did you do this week?

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Castle--Don't Blink Or You Miss Him

Well, I've run the gamut of emotions over the Castle last night. The talk with Laney was awesome, but we really should have gotten that about ten episodes ago. And can Kate really claim she doesn't know how Castle feels when she heard him say I love you? It was a little bit of confusion there for me.

But then the confusion got deeper when we saw Castle for all of about ten minutes the entire episode. He's gone back to his playboy ways, but instead of it being like it was in the first seasons, it's just . . . well, dumb. We've spent the last three seasons seeing him grow beyond that and to have him deliberately compromise a case with a new bimbo is demeaning.

The case provides us with a "replacement Castle" so to speak in having Kate work with a British inspector. A bumbling British inspector who was not hard to look at. I liked the mystery, once again, and thought that part was well done. And the funniest line of the night was definitely when the Brit had talked himself past the airport security guy by saying he was Agent Bauer and when the security guy gets his supervisor on the phone in record time Castle says, "Agent Bauer? Well, what did he expect?" I laughed out loud. Jack Bauer is a legend of epic proportions. I miss him. (Although I heard the 24 movie will start filming next year now that contract negotiations are hammered out. I hope it goes smoothly. And a tiny part of me still hopes that Renee's death was staged and she comes back. She was such a great female lead for Jack. *sigh*)

Anyway, Castle gets a C- from me mostly because we hardly saw him, Kate knows exactly how he feels about her but didn't learn her lesson at waiting too long with the beach house thing and waited too long again. I guess for me it's just starting to feel silly and I wish they'd either do the relationship right, or don't do it at all and concentrate on having great mysteries and a lot of fun snark.

Do you watch shows in the genre you write in? I was curious about that when I realized that all my favorite shows are suspense with a dash of romance.

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